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The Thieves' Canal
=The Thieves' Canal= Manse of Water 3 (Generates The Freedom Stone) The city of Great Forks was built atop a steep, large hill with two sides bordering the mighty eastern river, at the conflux of the Yellow and Rolling Rivers. As a trade hub, it's location is second only to Nexus. A lot of water needs to flow through the mighty city, which is easily acomplished owing to it's position. Deep, relatively narrow channels - canals - of water, bordered with masonry stone, flow through the city, above the underground store-houses, trading areas and living quarters, above the sewers. The steep geomancy of the area lends itself to forming many manses - including the one that was unintentionally, and possibly unknowingly, created at the heart of the canal and sewer complex. A visitor to Great Forks might wonder why, if the city is so big and has as much industry as it does, the river is so unpolluted. The natives would be likely to simply praise the Gods of Water and leave it at that. The truth is that at the heart of the city, into a vast complex of canals and sewers which the city's thieves make good use of, lies a chamber at the heart of it all. All the water leaving the city that's not one of the canals connected directly to the rivers pours through this massive chamber, through any number of seemingly-invulnerable iron grates. Many a thief has attempted to get into the chamber, in the center of which a shiny stone glittered; none succeeded - until Kari found an entrance swimming back into the city across the Yellow River and swam up a long water-filled tunnel, emerging. The water pours through a massive out-let, a vaulted chamber dozens of yards wide and an unknown number of yards deep. An iron ladder descends from the middle platform to the bottom, where a connection to the Yellow River may be found. Climbing to this vantage point is quite the haul - swimming to the surface of the outlet water helps, but a mortal swimmer, or Exalt without the chops to do so, would never manage it before they drowned. It's a long swim in from the Yellow River, and then you still have to swim to the surface. The middle platform's top contained an old, stone desk. It was probably left here centuries ago by the construction foreman, and a sphere-shaped recess in the middle gives the impression that over the years, water dripping from the ceiling wore the recess into it. When the Hearthstone is set on the altar, water drips from the ceiling to give this illusion convincingly, and when removed, the trickle from above becomes a small pour, as if from a downspout under a pouring rain. The water entering the main chamber of the Thieves' Canal is magically cleaned of all filth, impurity, trash, debris, poisons, toxins, and anything else unpleasant, long before it pours into the main chamber. The Hearthstone Bearer can exit or enter through any of dozens of iron grates that lead into the sewers or the canals above them, or climb out from upper hatches that lead to serritepitous entrances on the streets - but there are only two ways to enter. Either the Hearthstone bearer must lead you in through the sewer inlets, canal inlets, or street entrances, which span the breadth and width of Great Forks, or you must manage the swim in from the Yellow River - if, indeed, you can even find it. *The Thieves' Canal requires no maintenance, and has no Fragility drawback. *The Thieves' Canal has a one-point Habitability drawback. (Uncomfortable.) *It generates the Freedom Stone (Hearthstone of Water 3, Exalted p.383) *It has a 2-point Dangerous Traps power as follows: **Though anyone who travels enough through the sewers or canals might find the half-filled drainage outlets that lead into the hearthstone room, the grates were never meant to be opened. Attempting to cut through them or to bypass them without bearing the Hearthstone triggers a sudden surge through the canal - a hard, strong wave of water that lasts for many seconds, sufficient to bash the unwary would-be enterer against the grate with dangerous force. All in the tunnel are subjected to this wave, and a successful + Resistance roll, at difficulty 4, is required to know that to avoid damage, one should flatten oneself to the grate and take a deep breath, and hold on. Failure bashes the unlucky bastard against the grate with phenomenal force, causing him to take 16B Piercing health levels of damage. This power will not trigger if an Attuned character or the Hearthstone Bearer is in the tunnel and would be affected. **Subsequent to the first wave, if the would-be entrants persist in their attempts to enter (assuming their cutting tools or lockpicks have not been swept into the hearthstone chamber through the grate!) the water in the tunnel fills very rapidly and strongly - not enough to cause damage like a wall of water, but they are soon submerged. A difficulty 4 + Athletics roll is required to swim to an access, or the characters will begin to drown very rapidly, taking one health level of lethal damage every tick they remain submerged. (The nearest access hatches are twenty yards upstream from the grate, and headway towards them cannot be made while the tunnel is filling by walking or swimming without the Athletics roll.) This surge of water persists until all inside the tunnel are dead or have escaped, then it subsides. Again, it will not trigger if the Hearthstone Bearer or an Attuned character is within the tunnel. **If a thief attempts to pick the lock of one of the surface entrances, or attempts to break through the lock, they must make a Reflexive + Dodge check at difficulty 4, or they will be run down by a suddenly out-of-control cart, wagon, yeddim, or similar large and fast object, typically leaving a splat on the wall. They suffer 16B Piercing health levels of damage unless they dodge. This only occurs once per attempt to gain unauthorized entry to the Thieves' Canal, but typically draws so much attention that even if the would-be entrant survives unscathed, there is so much attention upon him that he will not persist. If he does, and somehow gains access, he manages only to break into a collapsed tunnel which no amount of earthmoving will get him through - the blockage mysteriously vanishes once he has left, the door has shut, and re-locked. ***None of the Dangerous Traps negate the fact that attempting to enter by the wrong means are impossible - a mortal or god-blooded thief who attempts to pick the lock will find it rusted beyond all use, and the iron resists cutting. The tunnels are impassable - the dangerous traps merely serve the violently reinforce the fact that you are not supposed to try, and over the years, have built up a conventional wisdom that no thieves should attempt to get to that chamber below the city in which that jewel glittered, far below. It is impossible to accidently risk the Manse's ire - one who does not know what he is attempting to reach will not trigger the traps, they only activate upon those who attempt to break in once they've seen the hearthstone chamber and are actively attempting to seek it. *It has a one-point Basic Convienances power to represent the repeatable nature of it's Dangerous Traps. * Category:Exalted